Brush and thistle cutter



Dec. 31, 1935. L. E. KAMPS BRUSH AND THISTLE CUTTER Filed June 6, 1934 H v c uioz A50 E. KHMPS.

Patented Dec. 31, 1935 r I 2,026,348

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BRUSH AND THISTLE CUTTER Leo E. Kamps, Vermilion, Ohio Application June 6, 1934, Serial No. 729,306

1 Claim. (Cl. 30-9) At the present time there is no practical farm Referring now t the drawing, l illustrates a implement which is especially designed to be used handle, which may be preferably made of wood,- f t ar of la d m thistles, s or or similar material. The numeral 2 indicates a the like, in an efiicient and time-saving manner. clamping unit which comprises the complemental The clearing of land from. brush was done clamping members 3 and 4 which are secured to s h r f u u lly by h n r with the e of the lower portion 5 of the handle by means of sickles and knives, and obviously, this kind of bolts 6 or the like. The complemental clamping Work required quite some effort 0n the pa f members 3 and 4, a'detail View of which is shown th person p f m th m T ver om in Figure 2, are provided with holes 1 and 8, and

1 these difiiculties, asoutlined above, I have decomprise further extension members 9 which are 10 signed a s p d v wh a be v h ap y adapted to engage the lower handle portion 5 manufactured, and which may be used for the d t t1y enetrate into th same, as will clearing of land from thistles and brush in a be clearly seen from Figure 4. most effic e t an e W o undue efiolt O These extension members are primarily adapted the pa t of the person us g t e o e. to prevent the splitting of the lower portion of 15 h p i ip o j f the p t nv n ion the wooden handle when the clamping members is 0 P v d a simple implement Of this d, are clamped together'in a manner, as will be which is readily adaptable for the performance hereinafter described, of the various land clearing operations in a most Th l wer ortion of the wooden handle is proso efficient and speedy manner, and which is of su vided with holes I arranged in such a manner a construction as to permit its use for various as t coincide with the holes I in the clamping other P p as will more p fi l y set members 3 and 4 when the same are attached to forth hereinafter. the lower portion 5 of the handle. The bolts 6 Another object of this invention is the proviare passed through the openings 1 in the clampsion of a device of a character as set forth herein, ing members and l in the lower portion of the 2 having means whereby the cutting blade which handle, and the clamping members may in this forms a p Of this implement y e djusted fashion be securely clamped and mounted upon to various cutting positions as desirable to carry the handle portion 5, as will be obvious from out the various working operations for which this Figure 1. It will be seen that when the clampf m r g r n implemen may be specially ing unit 2 is arranged on the handle, as has been 00 adapted. described above, the extensions 9 of the comple- Other and further objects and advantages of mental clamping members will also serve to hold the invention will be-hereinafter set forth .and the clamping members in proper position with the novel features thereof defined by the aprespect to the handle. The lower handle portion pended claim. 7 5 may be preferably made in a rectangular cross 35 In the accompanying drawing:- section although this is not absolutely necessary, Figure 1 illustrates an elevational view of my but it is of importance that the two sides ID of garden and farm implement. the lower handle portion which are adjacent the Figure 2 is a perspective view of one of the clamping members 3 and 4 be machined into a clamping members employed in my construction, straight surface, which will coincide with the re- 40 Figure 3 is a sectional view of Figure 1 taken spective surfaces H of the clamping member so on line 33 and illustrating especially the loopthat a perfect attachment of the latter to the shaped supporting member for the blade. handle may be aco'mplished. These two surfaces Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4--4 ll) of the lower handle portion 5 may be slightly 45. of Figure 1, illustrating how the cutting blade tapered toward the lower end of the handle, as

may be adjusted to various positions. shown at l2, to permit a further clamping to- Figure 5 is a somewhat diagrammatic view gether of the clamping members for reasons as illustrating the use of my implement for cutwill be mentioned later on.

ting thistles, brush or the like. Secured to the clamping unit 2 by means of a Figure 6 illustrates a modified form of my bolt I3 is a loop-shaped supporting member I4, 50 brush and thistle cutter. to which a cutting blade [5 is attached by means Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on line 1-1 of screws l6 and H which are preferably counterof Figure 6. sunk, as clearly illustrated in Figure 3. The loop- Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 6, parts be shaped supporting member I4 is of a configuraing broken away. tion, as clearly illustrated in Figure 3. The two 55 erations.

shanks l4 and M" of this member lie flatly against the cutting blade l5, as will be clearly seen from this illustration. The loop-shaped supporting member forms an eye as shown at 68 in Figure 3 through which the bolt l3 may be passed when the same is attached to the clamping unit 2. The holes 8 of the clamping members 3 and 4 permit the passage of the bolt I3 therethrough, as will be clearly understood from the drawing.

It will be readily seen that the connection between the supporting member and the clamping unit 2 permits an angular adjustment of the blade with respect to the handle when the bolt I3 is somewhat loosened. In this manner the blade may be adjusted to an angularity with respect to the handle, which is most desirable for the performance of the respective land clearing op- In tightening the bolt l 3, the clamping members 3 and 4 may be somewhat more clamped together so as to rigidly hold the blade in the adjusted position. This additional clamping operation may be performed because of the tapered end portions I2 of the handle I without any possibility of splitting the lower end of the handle portion, which splitting is also prevented by the extensions 9 of the clamping members 3 and 4, as previously described herein.

The blade I 5 employed in my novel implement is of a unique construction. It will be noted from Figure 1 that this blade is provided with the cutting edge is which comprises the edge portions 20 and 2! disposed to each other in a substantially right angle. The advantage gained by this construction is of great importance because the straight cutting edge alone will not perform the working operations to which this device is to be is not solely limited to the clearing of land from adapted. If the brush or thistles are not cut by the edge portion 19, such cutting operation will be perfectly performed by the edge portion 2]. The blade l5 may be manufactured preferably from heavy sheet steel stock. It may be pointed as at 22, so as to penetrate more easily through thick underbrush, or the like.

As previously stated, the device of the present invention may be used for many purposes, and

thistles and brush, as for instance, small branches of trees or other plants, which are far above the ground and hard to reach, may be trimmed with this device, and similar and other uses of the implement will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

The adjustability of the blade permits the use of this cutting device also by left handed persons, as can be readily observed from the accompanying drawing. The implement is used in like manner, as a scythe, as obvious from Figure 5, and no further explanation upon this point is deemed necessary.

Figures 6 to 8 illustrate a modified form of the present invention wherein the clamping members 3a and da are of a configuration so as to properly engage a round handle I a. The employment of the round handle reduces considerably the cost of manufacture of this farm implement and this modified structure will therefore be very advantageous for mass production. No specific handle structure as illustrated in Figure 1 is necessary for the construction of this device. The inner sides of the clamping members 3a and 4a are curved to conform to the curvature of the handle as seen in Figure '7 so that a perfect engagement between the clamping members and the handle la may be facilitated. The clamping members are secured to the handle Ia by means of the bolts 61:. in a manner obvious from Figures 6 and 7. The structure of the blade I511 has been slightly varied and the connection between the blade Mia and the supporting member I la has also been simplified very considerably. Only one screw, i621, is necessary for establishing the connection between the blade [5a and the supporting member Ma in view of the fact that the blade portion adjacent the clamping members is provided with a cut-out portion 30 which is adapted to engage a pin 3| within the supporting member Ma in such a manner as to establish a rigid connection with the screw Ilia as will be necessary for the performance of the land clearing operations for which this tool is designated. The cutting edge portion 2 la has been increased in length because it has been found that such blade construction is more desirable in cases where a more speedy performance of land clearing operations is desired. In other words the blade construction described above is capable of cutting a larger amount of brush, thistle, or the like in the same time interval as would be the case with the blade construction disclosed in Figure 1.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:-

In a device of the class described, in combination, a handle, a flat blade having a cutting edge disposed towards one side of the handle in transverse relation to the handle and operative incident to lateral sweeping of the handle, a supporting member comprising a part bent upon itself so as to provide an eye having laterally spaced shanks extending therefrom and between which the blade is received and rigidly clamped by fastenings extending therethru, clamping means including a unit composed of two spaced clamping members secured at opposite sides of the handle and bearing on opposite sides of the supporting member in a direction in substantially the plane of the direction of said cutting edge, a pivot connection between the clamping members and the supporting member, said pivot connection passing through the supporting member eye in line with the plane of the blade, and fastening means for securing the clamping members to the handle and clamping them against the supporting member with clamping pressure in a plane parallel with the plane of the blade and said cutting edge, so that as the handle is swept laterally to cause action of the cutting edge of the blade the pressure generated on the blade is in the direction of the axis of the said pivot connection and does not tend to swing the blade about said axis, the clamping members being formed with integral extensions at opposite edges thereof extending toward each other and disposed at opposite sides of the handle to confine the material of the latter as set forth.

LEO E. KAMPS. 

